After dawn, Syrians draped in government flags descended on the heart of the capital in a show of defiance against the strikes. “This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime,” Trump said. At the rally in central Damascus, 48-year-old Nedher Hammoud claimed to have seen US missiles “being shot down like flies”. “Let them do what they want, kill who they want… History will record that Syria shot down missiles — and not just missiles. The strikes were a marked escalation compared with a US strike following a chemical attack a year ago, when only cruise missiles were used against a single airfield.

Source: Punch April 14, 2018 07:57 UTC